What I Like About You
by Phips and Filly
Summary: Just a small little detour and Lily Evans would be right back on schedule. Well, she would have been if not for a certain insufferable Marauder by the name of Sirius Black. But maybe not everything's as bad as it seems. Maybe. But it probably is.


**Written by Phips for the '10 things i hate about you' challenge. I chose Sirius to Lily, who hate each other, having to come up with ten things he likes about her. It was supposed to be a list...so this is, um, long. But it gave me something to do so...enjoy.**

Lily Evans walked through the corridors of Hogwarts, intent on getting back to her dorm with enough time to finish homework before dinner. It would have been a well thought out plan on her part, had she not remembered that she'd left her book outside. She'd spent a good part of the afternoon reading under a nice tree, but was pulled away by an annoying James Potter, asking her out for the third time in the past twenty-four hours. When she'd stormed off afterwards, the book had been long forgotten. But she couldn't just leave it now. It would only take a few extra minutes after all, and she didn't want to leave it for tomorrow when it would surely have been taken.

Luckily for her the book was exactly where she remembered leaving it. She bent down and picked it up.

"Lo Evans!"

And she dropped it again, her reaction a mix between fright and annoyance. Of all the people it had to be. The exchange was routine. Yes, Lily was well aware who she was speaking to but, turning around, she realized she had no idea where he was. Then she realized the bark-like laughter was coming from above her.

And sure enough, Sirius Black was hanging upside-down off one of the high branches of the tree. "Black," she greeted, rolling her eyes, "Dare I ask what you're doing?"

"Trying to break a world record, and Prongs… This is also good Quidditch practice."

Lily had been expecting an answer far more stupid, not that this wasn't a satisfactory amount. Looking at the boy more carefully she noticed his face was rather red; he must have been hanging like that a while. Considering the lack of people around and Sirius' short attention span, she couldn't help but be curious, "How long have you been doing this?"

He craned his head back a little, a bemused look crossing his features. The he was quiet. "You forgot to keep count, didn't you?" she guessed, her voice monotonous.

"Well, it was three hours, I think…then Remus left…" he closed his eyes briefly, "….maybe another few hours... Stay with me?" he asked, expression resembling a lost puppy.

She was shocked almost at how long he'd been up there. Not that she doubted his endurance, if she really came to think about it. But still. She'd never admit to that. "How much longer do you plan on doing this for?"

"Two days…so thirty-something hours left."

Okay, now he was ridiculous and delusional. "I think all that blood's gone to your head. You'll kill yourself."

"No. Someone else did it. If they can, I can. Besides, I already beat James." The shaggy-haired boy squinted distastefully. Lily was directly under him, only a few feet separating their heads. He couldn't see her well without having to bend backwards. "And can you please stand on that side. This position's awkward... Looks like we're gonna kiss."

That made Lily leap a mile. And there was more laugher from above. It had gotten her to move after all. She frowned and took another step away, "I'm leaving."

"No no no no, don't!"

She took a deep breath, "And why not?"

"Because…" Sirius froze. She began to walk away again, "You said I might die!" She stopped, about to retort with something about exaggerations. "And-and if I do, you'll have been the last people to see me alive!... You know Prongs'll….wait, no he wont. He loves you…But Remus…no, he's to smart for that. Peter-"

For some reason Lily didn't look particularly amused. Sirius figured that meant his reasoning was working. "I think I can live with the guilt."

"You can not." Cleary he wasn't aware that taunting a girl rarely made her agree with you. As she started walking away Sirius called back, "I meant that in the you're-a-better-person way!"

He knew she didn't hate him that much. Actually, he didn't know. He was gambling on it. But she stomped back over to the tree, arms crossed. "Tell me about it!"

Sirius simply looked confused. "Tell you about what?"

Pure disbelief. "Do you not know what a rhetorical statement-" now that she thought about it, she was sure he didn't. And she had a better idea. "About what a good person I am."

"Wait-" Sirius was sure she was trying to confuse him now.

"You heard me, Black. If I have to put up with your insufferable presence for the next few hours the least you can do is be nice."

"But I don't like you," he replied pointedly, as it was very obvious after all.

Lily rolled her eyes yet again. "The feeling's mutual. Deal with it." She didn't even need to look at him to read his reaction, "And stop pouting already. That doesn't work on me."

"Works on everyone, Evans." He grinned widely.

She huffed in disagreement.

There was a beat of silence before, "You're not blond."

Lily cocked an eyebrow up and glanced at a strand of her hair, more or less expecting it to have been turned a different color by the other Marauders. Seeing it was the same red as it always was, she frowned "Really? Thank you so much Sirius, I'd never have known that had you not informed me."

Sirius chuckled, though he tried his hardest to hold it back. "No, I mean that's something I like about you… I don't like blonds."

While normally she would have snapped some comment about him being bigoted, she supposed she wasn't particularly fond of them either. And it was better than him hating on muggle-borns. Everyone had their little things. "Thank you… I suppose."

"And you're smart… that's kind of cool."

Hours of hanging upside-down must have gotten to Sirius' head, because she'd never actually intended for him to go off complementing her. Not that she minded it really. "I'm not. I just actually do my work."

"We'll there's that too." Sirius took it as a challenge now. Thinking of things he liked about a person he hated. It was something to do at least, because what his mind was doing now was far from comfortable. "Oh, oh, and you're a Gryffindor."

Lily smiled just a little, "And you're more observant than you look."

"You've got green eyes," he continued.

"Let me guess," she chuckled humorlessly, "you like green eyes?"

He shook his head quickly, "I like colorful eyes."

She was confused for a brief moment, look at him again, and she noticed that his eye color would technically be described as a shade. Still, they were big, deep, and fathomless, enough for her to get lost in them. "Your eye's are interesting."

"Eh," he would have shrugged, but the reverse motion simply rocked him in the air. "How long's it been?"

Lily looked to her watch as replied, "Not long." It was said apologetically. He pondered for a moment before getting back on topic.

"You're kind of feisty."

She truthfully wasn't sure to take that as a complement or not. Being feisty, as he called it, was similar to self-righteous. Most people looked down on that. Other than extreme liberals… That suddenly made a lot of sense. "So are you."

"I know." He winked.

"I'm leaving, Black."

Sirius frowned desperately, "Aw, come on Lily. I'm only having fun"

"You," Lily turned on her heel and fixed her eyes on him, "have a very strange definition of that word." She was so tired of it. Him and Potter and their 'fun'.

"You have a very creative way of insulting people."

She groaned. The few moments she'd been able to tolerate him were over and done it seems. "How people possibly put up with you-"

"They don't." Something in the way he said that made her feel bad, but quickly enough was she certain he'd done that on purpose. He hadn't exactly, but nothing he'd ever done in the past gave her a reason to believe otherwise. And then, "You don't wear smelly make-up."

And that was so random, she couldn't help but laugh. It frustrated her to no end, laughing at a person she was furious at. "You're best friend would like it if I did, I'm sure."

"Too bad." He took one of his long arms from behind his head and swished her hair. She slapped his hand back. This couldn't have been classified as getting along, could it? The thought she was even remotely getting along with Sirius Black nauseated her, but it must have had to do with obligation and isolation. There was no other possibility.

The mentioned was laughing now, once again, but feverishly this time. It was just the situation maybe, dawning on him as well. That and pain, which he had a terrible habit of laughing during. While most of his body was numb, his head was throbbing and spinning. It was vaguely like being drunk. Lily didn't even want to consider how many brain cells he was loosing in this hair-brained stunt.

"You're interesting company." He finally continued, having overcome the spell, "Really interesting to argue with."

"So you're saying I'm not interesting now that we're not arguing?"

Damn Lily Evans and her power to make simple things make no sense. "Yes?...No?..." He hated not knowing what was happening. "I pick answer C!"

It was just as he made that declaration, the tree branch bent and his body completely gave in; sending him falling down, head first. Lily didn't register it immediately, but she ran forward and caught him before he made impact. Instead they both toppled over.

"You hadn't made it so you wouldn't fall?" she exclaimed, having assumed this whole tme the use of magic had been offering at least some security. She should have known better. "Do you realize how stupid that was? If I wasn't there-" she quieted. She was more or less sitting up, arms tightly around Black's arms and shoulders while he leaned on top of her. "Are you alright?"

He. was quiet for a few moments, breathing deeply. "I knew you couldn't resist me," Sirius finally replied, grin reapearing. Lily could simply feel it.

She would have just dropped him. Really. "Shut up, Sirius." But she didn't. Because she was the better person. "Can you get up?"

"You don't want to stay with me anymore?" he laughed. The next line was in the same format as the thing's-I-like-about-Lily project. She knew it too. "You're hugging me."

"No. I'm not hugging you." She spoke as if he was a three year old child. It seemed like he was sometimes. "I prevented you from breaking your neck. This is where a normal person says 'thank you'."

"Starfish."

She couldn't help but look utterly confused. "What the hell?"

"A normal person would say thank you. I said starfish."

Her face remained stoic. It was better not to argue with him. Especially because she was beginning to think he was making sense. She bid her sanity farewell.

"Right."


End file.
